Bleach: Shifter Arc
by Pinkertine
Summary: Rukia and Ichigo encounter a mysterious girl. They know nothing about her, except for her name: Katsumi. Together they attempt to carry out a dangerous mission to kill an entire army of Shape shifters that have been created by a previous member of a noble family in Soul Society. However, their troubles do not end there, they only just begin.
1. I Am Katsumi

Episode 1: I Am Katsumi

"Getsuga Tenshou!" The hollow disappears.

"Ichigo!" Rukia is standing behind him with her arms crossed.

"What?" He says in an annoyed voice.

"You know you still need to take it easy. Don't go overdoing yourself already!"

"Calm down. This is nothing." He puts his zanpakto back and flashsteps away across the building tops.

"Ichigo, wait!" Rukia sighs, but sort of smiles. She flashsteps after him.

*Back at Ichigo's room*

"Nee-san!" Kon jumps into Rukia's arms. She steps on him, his plushy body squeaks as it hit the floor. "I've missed your hellos nee-san." His muffled voice coming from under her foot.

"Oy, Rukia, tell me why you're here again?" Ichigo sits down at his desk.

"I have secret orders that don't concern you." She walks over to his closet and opens it.

"Well when you're living in my closet, it does concern me!"

"It's just a hollow alert. Nothing to get worried about." She sits inside the closet.

"Since when did Soul Society decide to send you to the world of the living every time a hollow turns up? That's what I'm here for, and the town shinigami." Ichigo turns to look Rukia straight in the eyes. "It's more than just a normal hollow isn't it?" Rukia looks down from his gaze.

"Yes. It's a hollow that has partially turned into a shinigami." Kon gasps in awe,

"Does it have hollow or shinigami powers then?" He asks.

"Both." Rukia looks up at the window. "But the problem isn't what he is, it's what he's been doing." Ichigo's eyes widen.

"I'm guessing he's doing more than just eating the wandering souls that are still here

stuck here." Ichigo says quietly. Without shifting her gaze from the window Rukia replies,

"He's...he's been creating shinigamis. They have turned out to be hybrids, changing between hollow and soul reaper," She added quietly, "like you used to." Ichigo looked away from her at the window too.

"I see." He says. Kon looks back and forth between the two.

"So this thing is using his hybrids to do bad things? Well, we've got to stop him!" Kon pounds his paw into his other one, squeaking as he did so.

"No, Kon." Rukia stands up. "He isn't doing that."

"Huh?" Question marks pop up around Kon.

"All the hybrids he's created have all died within an hour." She explains. Ichigo frowns really hard and says,

"How many hybrids has he tired to make?" Rukia faces Ichigo,

"A lot." He grips his combat pass angrily, still frowning.

*Beep beep beep*

Rukia looks at her soul phone beeping. Ichigo stands up. "Hollow?" Rukia still looks at her phone.

"It's him." Ichigo pounds his combat pass into his chest and turns into a shinigami. His human body clunks on the floor. He opens the window and jumps out.

"Wait, Ichigo!" Rukia swallows her soul candy and follows Ichigo. They jump over buildings and run, searching for the half hollow, half shinigami. They stopped right beside the road that's next to the river. Rukia's phone stopped beeping.

"Damn it!" Ichigo scowled.

"Maybe it…" Rukia stopped mid sentence. They all of a sudden felt an immense spiritual pressure. They look around and see nothing. They look down and see a girl walking along the road. She's looking down at her feet as she walks, and doesn't see them.

"Her spiritual pressure is so strong it feels like," Rukia caught herself. She was about to say, "as strong as yours was." Ichigo was frowning, "I know."

"Do you think she's the half hollow, half…"

"No." Rukia interrupted. "She's Human." They were about to turn away when she unexpectedly looked up. She had dark, very dark brown eyes, but from a distance, they looked black. She was looking right at Ichigo and Rukia above her. She frowned a little looking confused. "She can see us." Rukia whispered. Ichigo slowly reached for his zanpakto. The girl opened her mouth as if about to say something when all of a sudden out of nowhere, a figure appeared. It grabbed the girl. She screamed and struggled. The figure wearing a shinigami robe and carrying a zanpakto disappeared, taking her with him.

"Wait! Come back!" Ichigo yelled and took off after it.

"Ichigo!" Rukia yelled after him. They followed the thing up into the small forest by the cemetery. Ichigo and Rukia land behind the figure, zanpaktos drawn.

"Why thank you for coming to watch my show. I've never had an audience before." A raspy voice sounded.

"We're not here to watch anything! Give her back to us!" Ichigo shouted.

"Oh, but she doesn't want to go back." It turned around, revealing its face of a hollow, the round empty circle in the center of its chest. "See?" He stepped aside revealing the girl standing behind him. She only stood still, unmoving and making no sound. He continued, "And you don't want to leave either." He waves his human looking hand towards Ichigo and Rukia. They immediately felt as if they were glued to the ground and were bound by ropes head to toe. They were unable to move and speak, they couldn't even struggle. The creature laughed. "This is perfect!" it began walking back and forth. "You see, I have gone through so much trouble, it makes me weary to think about it. Being the only one of my kind, it put me under so much pressure. So I tried to make ones like me. All the hybrids I've made, oh so many, hundreds I assume. But they all died on me, they brought me no merit, no happiness. You can only imagine my joy though when I discovered the key to my success! From frustration and anger I could not see clearly, and in that rage I turned a worthless human, with almost no spiritual pressure, into a hybrid. Fortunately, after he had been turned, another stupid human had wandered among us and my newly made hybrid killed him. I wasn't disturbed by what happened, I was actually greatly surprised. My new hybrid had survived beyond the one hour all my other hybrids had died at. Unfortunately, he had low spiritual pressure and therefore had no power, and powerlessness is useless to me. So I killed him myself." It took a pause in its story. Ichigo became furious, but was still unable to move or speak. It continued, "Now I have captured her," he turns around and looks at the girl, "who's spiritual pressure, which I'm sure you've noticed, is quite impressive." It drew his zanpakto and turned back to Ichigo and Rukia, "And I've captured two shinigamis for her to kill when she's born." His laugh rang out through the trees. He turns back to the girl making her put her arms out. Her arms flung out in front of her robotically. It placed its zanpakto in her hands, the point facing her heart. He placed his own hand on the hilt and said, "What did you say your name was?" But he didn't wait for an answer, he made her drive the zanpakto through her heart, and he pushed with his hand as well. Then a bright blinding light blinds Ichigo and Rukia. The light fades and they see the girls human body laying on the ground. Her shinigami self stands in front of them. She still looked human, not like a hollow, but dressed in black soul reaper clothers, and a large zanpakto hung on her back. He stepped to the side to let her walk and stand between him and Ichigo and Rukia. "Now, if you want to live, kill them." He said to her.

"My name is Katsumi." she whispered.

"What?" He snarled at her.

"Katsumi desu!" She grabbed the hilt of her zanpakto from over her left shoulder. The bluish purplish ribbons unwrap from the blade. The ribbons connect to the end of the hilt with little bells hanging on both ends of the ribbons, tinkling a quiet sound. Unexpectedly she turns around facing the half hollow half shinigami and stabs him though the stomach. He howls in pain and surprise. He reaches for his zanpakto, but it lay on the ground out of his reach. Before he could do anything else, she sliced his mask and cut him all the way down the middle. He screams one last time, before dying and disappearing into thin air.

Ichigo and Rukia can move now, they stare at Katsumi. She puts her zanpakto back in place and looks at Ichigo and Rukia.

"Who are you?" Ichigo asks, frowning at her.

"I told you. I am Katsumi."

TO BE CONTINUED...


	2. Hear My Roar

Episode 2: Hear My Roar

"Whaaah? Ohnichan brought another girl home?" Yuzu stands there with her mouth open and a silver ladle in her hand. Ichigo walks past her and his dad,

"This is Katsumi." He casually waved his hand towards her. Katsumi awkwardly says hi. The three head upstairs and Ichigo closes the door to his room. "So who exactly are you?" Ichigo frowns at Katsumi. Yuzu and her dad are listening outside his door with drinking glasses.

"Ichigo!" Rukia slaps Ichigo on the head.

"Oy! What was that for?" He rubs his head.

"What Ichigo means," Rukia says to Katsumi, "is where are you from? We've never seen you at school before or around town." Katsumi looks at the ground and says,

"I'm from the town orphanage from the next town over. This is my first time coming to Karakura town." She looks down at the floor. Ichigo stops frowning,

"Oh." He tries to think through how to word his next question right, but it still doesn't come out sounding very polite, "What are you doing here?" His voice came out sounding irritated. She scowls at him,

"Not to be turned into a death god by one of your little buddies for sure." Ichigo twitches angrily.

"Buddies?" He stands up and shouts, "You think I'm buddies with that thing?" Rukia stops him before he could go on.

"Katsumi, why did you leave the orphanage?" She asked. Katsumi looks at her,

"My parents left me there when I was 7, saying they'd come back as soon as they could to get me. 10 years later and they still haven't. So I...I guess I left to come look for them. I'm not quite sure where to look though. Or where I'll stay." Ichigo's dad bursts into tears outside his room.

"Katsumichan! That's such a touching story! You can stay here with us as long as you like and we'll help you look for your parents! I already love you like my own daughter! It's so sweet I can't stand it!" Ichigo kicks his door open and punches his dad in the face. " *insert Japanese cuss words*" . He slams his door back shut and points at Katsumi. She widens her eyes innocently but Ichigo still says,

"Nope, you are not staying here. I'm not sure what you are, and what you're capable of." He grabs the small bag she was carrying off the floor, threw it at her and said, "Let's go."

"Go where?" She asks. He ignores her. The three walk out of his room. Ichigo's dad jumps towards them with his arms out.

"Katsumichan!" He cries out with hearts in his eyes. Ichigo kicks him onto the floor. His dad lands face down with his butt sticking up in the air. They casually walk over him. As they walk outside Katsumi asks again,

"Where are we going?" Ichigo scowls.

"Urahara's place. He'll let you stay, and maybe he'll know if there's something wrong with you."

"Wrong with me? Like what?"

"Like if you're part hollow or not, and other stuff."

"Other stuff? What are you talking about?"

Ichigo shouts,

"Quit asking so many questions! You'll just have to wait and find out!" Ichigo shouted, irritated. Rukia murmurs quietly,

"Ichigo, you ask too many questions all the time too." Her voice quiet, not meaning for him to actually hear. Ichigo shouts defensively,

"I do not! Shut up both of you!"

*At Urahara's shop*

"Oh. I see. Very interesting." says Urahara while fanning himself and sipping tea.

" ' That's interesting?' That's it?" Ichigo shouts.

"Uh… yeah, that's it!" Urahara says happily. Ichigo pouts depressingly.

"So Katsumichan, tell me all you know about what you saw happen when the hollow turned you into a soul reaper." Urahara says, still drinking tea. He burns his tongue and starts jumping up and down screeching.

"Idiot." Ichigo mutters. His combat pass and Rukia's phone start sounding.

"It's a pretty small hollow." Rukia says looking at her soul phone.

"I'll take care of it." Ichigo jumps up, changes and then leaves. "Finally a chance to get away from the clowns." He thinks to himself as he jumps through the air towards the hollow, taking his slow sweet time. He hears a hollow roar. He tracks it down and he sees it about to crash a building.

"Getsuga Tenshou!" Ichigo shouts (very dramatically). It cuts off the hollow's arm, but doesn't kill it. "Damn it! I missed!" Ichigo cusses some more and he chases the hollow to the top of the building. He fights the hollow briefly before he cuts its mask and it disappears. Then out of nowhere, the afro guy appears.

"I'm ready, let me at him! Waahh? HEY! What do you think you're doing here? I'm the town's shinigami and you punks are always showing up and taking my gig and stealing my thunder! Just who do you think you all are?" He starts walking away without waiting for a reply, an angry cloud looming over his head.

"Uhh…" Ichigo makes his confused/amused face. He can still hear the afro dude angrily muttering in the distance. Ichigo starts back. He lands on the ground outside Urahara's shop. "Useless, good for nothing…" insulting thoughts toward Urahara went through his head.

"WOAH! Really? Incredible! You found all that out just from him turning you?" Urahara's voice boomed from inside. Ichigo hurries in. "Wow, incredible!" Urahara repeats himself.

"What's so incredible?" Ichigo walks in and asks. Katsumi looks up at him from her cushion on the ground.

"You'll just have to wait and find out!" She said in a mocking voice.

"Oh! Ichigo perfect timing!" Urahara happily claps his hands together. "Katsumi here can…"

"Wait." Katsumi cuts him off. "I want to show him." Urahara gets quiet, slowly looks up. His eyes slowly looking up from behind the shadow of his hat.

"Follow me." Everyone stands up and goes to Urahara's underground training arena. Urahara points the end of his cane at Katsumi, "Pardon this Katsumichan." He jabs his cane at her forehead and her human body hits the ground. Katsumi stands facing Ichigo in her soul reaper form. Ichigo looks at her zanpakto.

"It doesn't have a sheath, it's just like mine." He looks confused.

"I know, and that's not all that is similar." She answered.

"Huh? What does that mean?" His eyes widen. She grabs her zanpakto,

"You'll see." She smirks. Ichigo grabs his zanpakto. Then Katsumi disappeared and landed behind him.

"What?" Ichigo spins around, "When did you learn flashstep?" She didn't answer, but flashstepped circles around him, cutting up his robe. He's still surprised and only then snaps out of it.

"Ok, you asked for it." He pointed Zangetsu in front of him and said, "Ban...kai!" (very epically.) He is now able to keep up speed with Katsumi and they clash swords now and then. Then Ichigo yells, "Getsuga...Tenshou!" His black spiritual pressure hurls toward her. Then as if echoing him, Katsumi shouts,

"Getsuga Tenshou!" Her zanpakto emits the same shaped spiritual pressure, but it looked as if made of light. The two getsuga tenshous collided, one terminating the other.

"What the…?" Ichigo's eyes grow wide. Then he decides to try again and gets ready to fire another getsuga tenshou when Katsumi shouts,

"Shine, Hikari!" Then Ichigo's vision goes white. The blinding white light hurt his eyes, he couldn't see anything. He felt himself crash into the ground. Then the light faded and he opened his eyes. Katsumi's zanpakto is under his chin. He looks at her in shock. "Want to keep going?" He stands up and immediately sends her crashing into a rock with a getsuga tenshou. She gets up, flashsteps towards him, but stops dead, as if she ran into a wall. She drops to her knees, holding her head in her hands, groaning.

"Katsumi!" Someone shouted her name. She slowly looks up, the whites of her eyes turning black, her irises turning yellow, a white mask slowly making its way across her face, a terrifying voice cackling with laughter.

TO BE CONTINUED…


	3. Shifters

Episode 3: Shifters

Katsumi starts rolling on the ground, clutching her face. Ichigo stares in astonishment.

"Katsumi!" Rukia shouts again and rushes over and puts her hands on her shoulders. Katsumi lets out a hollow's screech, and jumps up, pointing her zanpaktou at Rukia. Rukia reaches for her soul candy, but it is too late. Katsumi charges at her, sword raised. Rukia gasps and shields herself with her arms. There's a clashing sound. Ichigo stops Katsumi's sword from striking Rukia at the last second. Another hollow scream comes from Katsumi. Ichigo now pulls down his own hollow mask. They engage in a difficult battle. Ichigo's hollow voice echoes in the training grounds,

"Getsuga Tenshou!"

Katsumi is flung into the rocks, a large cloud of dirt puffs into the air. She slowly gets up, but then rushes at Ichigo again. She stops dead in her tracks. She's fighting the hollow, and she slowly turns back to normal. But the hollow inside her is too strong, it returns and takes over her again, unleashing its own getsuga tenshou. Ichigo takes his combat pass and calls out his fullbring, and blocks the attack. The screams of their hollowfied forms fill the arena.

"Katsumi!" Ichigo shouts, "Fight it! God damn it, come on Katsumi!"

The hollow laughs sinisterly, "Katsumi isn't here! Haha, that weakling can't control me!" All of a sudden it stops laughing and drops to the ground. Katsumi struggles against the hollow. "No...no. Let me stay and fight! You can't do it without me!" The hollow screeched as Katsumi took over. She finally looks up from the ground. Her mask is gone, but her eyes are still black and yello. She slowly stands up and puts back her zanpaktou.

"Daijoubu?! Are you ok?" Rukia slowly walks up to her, clearly apprehensive.

"Yeah, I think so." Katsumi replies weakly. Urahara clears his throat,

"Was this what happened to you Ichigo? When you first struggled with your hollow?" He asks.

Ichigo is still staring at Katsumi.

"Huh? What? Oh, yeah. Exactly what happened." Ichigo still stares at her. Katsumi notices.

"What are you staring at?" She asks. The black in her eyes have faded back to normal.

"Huh? Oh, nothing." Ichigo mutters. But he just realized that she somehow looks familiar to him. He had been staring directly at her eyes, but he decides he was just imagining things, after all, he did just fight a fairly extreme battle. He thought that maybe he was just out of shape from losing his powers for a while. The biggest question was how Katsumi who was just turned, could be as equally powerful as him with no previous training. Then out of nowhere, several voices broke the silence at the top of the stairs of the battle arena.

"Ichigo!"

"Kurosaki-kun! Rukia-chan!"

"Kurosaki! Kuchiki!"

Ichigo looked up at the three figures.

"Sado? Inoue? Ishida? Why are you here?" Ichigo asks.

"We felt your spiritual pressure all across town. We felt it battling another similar one." Sado says in his deep voice.

"The strength of the two spiritual pressures were terrifying! We thought something terrible was happening!" Orihime gasps.

"But we didn't know whether or not to come. The two spiritual pressures felt so similar, we initially thought it was just you. We thought you must have been doing some training of some sort. But there was a slight, miniscule difference in the second one that we were able to distinguish it from yours." Uruyuu explaines. The three then descend the stairs into the arena.

"Huh?" Ichigo frowns, confused. "Is our spiritual pressure really that similar?!" Ichigo earlier suspicions return and he grows concerned. Urahara cuts in.

"As a matter of fact, it was quite difficult for even me to distinguish its differences. However, there were definitely differences that make Katsumi unique." He says in his goofy voice, the one he uses when he's trying to tone down the importance of something. Ichigo frowns, feeling very uncomfortable with the situation. He's caught up in his own thoughts, thinking to himself,

"What's going on? Is she the way she is because of that soul reaper hollow thing? Or is she...?"

Orihime's voice break into his thoughts.

"Kurosaki-kun! Who's this?" She's looking at Katsumi.

"Oh. That's...uh...Katsumi."

The three gather around her and Rukia introduces them. Ichigo, still frowning, is thinking. He looks up and catches Katsumi's eye. "Her eyes..." he thought.

*The next morning in Ichigo's room.*

"Ichigo! Wake up!" Rukia stands over Ichigo holding his flashing combat pass and her beeping phone up to his ears.

"Arg! What? No one should be up this early!" He says groggily. Rukia slams his combat pass into his face, and his shinigami self somes out. "Ow! What the hell?!"

"Hollow attack!" Rukia eats her own soul candy. "Idiot..." she mutters under her breath.

"This early?" Ichigo complains as he stands up. "Shouldn't the hollows be asleep too?"

Rukia punches his head. "Idiot! Hollows don't sleep! Eating souls is a fulltime job!"

Ichigo, still complaining and rubbing his head, goes to find the hollow, Rukia following behind him. They hear a hollow roar.

"This way!" Rukia takes the lead. The spot the hollow at the playground. The hollow turns around and lunges at them. Ichigo pulls out his zanpaktou just in time, but out of nowhere, a bright light shoots out at the hollow. The hollow screams and disappears from Ichigo's view. He sees a flash of a blade and hears a crash. The light fades. There lay the hollow on the ground, cut in half. Then it disappears. Standing in the air right next to them was Katsumi. Ichigo twitches angrily and shouts,

"What are you doing?!"

Katsumi blinks innocently, "I wanted to see if my zanpakou's power would work the same on hollows."

"That's not what I meant! I was about to get him! You can't just...steal him!" Ichigo was almost pouting. Katsumi smirks.

"Why the frown Ichigo? Jealous?"

Rukia laughs from behind Ichigo.

"Shut up!" He walks away across the sky. Katsumi and Rukia follow behind him, chatting away. Then Ichigo turns around to insult them some more, but his eyes widen and he shouts,

"Watch out!"

Katsumi and Rukia whip out their zanpaktous and turn around just when two other swords crash down on each of theirs. There are two shinigamis, but they are wearing black masks. They have incredible power. Rukia is pushing back, but Katsumi is too weak. The shinigami sends her plummeting to the ground. An echoing crash is heard.

"Katsumi!" Ichigo shouts before taking on the shinigami. Their battle commences. Ichigo quickly realizes how incredibly strong and powerful the shinigamis were. He points his zanpaktou in front of him and goes bankai. He pulls down his hollow mask and charges. They still are able to fend him off. The two masked shinigamis pause for a second, look at each other, nod, and then their bodies started to grow. Their limbs grow and their shinigami robes disappear. In three seconds, there stand two huge hollows. They lash out and shriek at Ichigo and Rukia. Ichigo is bleeding and Rukia can barely stand. Out of the blue, a trumpet sounds. The hollows stop fighting at the sound, jumped further up into the air, and began to morph again. Their massive hollow bodies distort themselves into two ordinary black birds, flying off in the direction of the trumpet sound.

Rukia and Ichigo dash down to where Katsumi lay bleeding and broken on the ground.

"Didn't you cushion yourself with your spiritual pressure?!" Ichigo is stunned at how hurt Katsumi is.

"No one told me to do that!" She tries to get up. Rukia helps her.

"You're very inexperienced, you didn't know." Rukia calms her. Katsumi nods, then looks up at the sky. "What were those things?"

Ichigo frowns, "I don't know, but they weren't soul reapers."

"But they weren't hollows either." Rukia looks really worried. They continue to stare at the sky. Then Ichigo carries Katsumi to Urahara's place. Orihime, Sado, and Ururyuu are there too. Rukia is in the corner on her soul phone. A few minutes later, she gasps,

"What?!" Everyone looks at her. She keeps listening to the voice in her phone. "Yes. I understand." She slowly shuts her phone. She takes a deep breath and explains.

"I informed soul society of our encounter. The description I gave of the creatures we saw...they..." She closes her eyes as if about to faint, "they match the profile of the extremely dangerous army of shapeshifters that have been created by a wanted criminal. Squad 12 has been receiving signals of a great disturbance in spiritual pressure and balance for quite some time. They've issued complete secrecy and security to the case. Reinforcements are being sent to help us complete the mission."

Everyone couldn't believe what they had just heard. Ichigo, frowning, asks,

"What mission?"

Rukia has grown very pale. "We are to eliminate the entire army of shifters in Karakura town, and to prevent the creation of any more."

Everyone is in shock. Silence seems to shatter the atmosphere. A rumbling noise breaks the tension. Ichigo grabs hiszanpaktou, and everyone rushes outside. There in Urahara's yard, a bright light burst out, and the senkaimon gate appears. Ichigo slowly let his zanpaktou drop to his side. The gates slowly open. Nothing was visible in the light, but it gradually faded. There they stand. Ichigo looks up. His icy blue eyes return his gaze.

"Toshiro."

*A long, epic pause*

"Ichigo."

TO BE CONTINUED...


	4. Captains

Episode 4: Captains

*At Urahara's shop*

"Matsumoto- san, you're very welcome to stay with me if you like!" Urahara pleaded with her.

"Oh, but I must stay with Orhime! We're close friends! Right?" She hugs Orhime super tightly. Orihime laughs nervously and agrees. Ichigo and Renji are already shouting at each other.

"You look as ridiculous as ever! You already have more than enough tattoos!"

"Hey! Watch who you're talking to!" Renji jabs his thumb towards himself, "You're talking to the new captain of squad 5!"

Ichigo mutters to himself, "Air headed as always too."

"What?!" Renji growls. "What'd you say?!" Ichigo slams his forhead against Renji's

"I said you're an idiot!" They start growling and pushing each other.

"Immature idiots." Toshiro mutters. He looks away and sees Katsumi. He starts walking towards her, two other captains by his side. Toshiro introduces himself, they exchange their Japanese bows. Katsumi turns to the other captain, "Katsumi desu" and bows. His grey eyes look down at her, his silver scarf fluttering in the breeze,

"Kuchiki Byakuya, Squad 6 captain." He gave a small nod. She turned to the third. He stays quiet for a moment before saying very quietly,

"I'm….uh… Hisagi…uh…Hisagi Shuhei. Squad 9 captain." He immediately looks away. Ichigo and Renji stop fighting when they heard Toshiro ask,

"What are you?"

Katsumi isn't fazed at the rudeness of his question and doesn't hesitate in answering,

"I'm half shinigami, half hollow." Then Ichigo cuts in,

"But she's still human." After considering it very quickly, he added, "just like me." Urahara cleared his throat,

"Let's all go inside and clear things up."

*Inside Urahara's shop*

Everyone listens to Katsumi explain herself. Afterward, Toshiro sits there frowning.

"So you're saying that the moment he stabbed you with his zanpaktou he transferred all his knowledge to you and even allowed a glimpse into your own future?"

"Yes." She replies, "I saw all the hybrids he made, I've seen them die. He also showed me the hundreds of hollows and humans he's killed. That's how I knew how to kill him, in the visions I saw him slicing the hollows' masks and they would disappear. He also showed me the powers I would have in order to convince me to obey him as my master. He never thought I wouldn't do that and turn on him. All his other hybrids were tempted at the possession of power and agreed to serve him in exchange for it." She looks down at her zanpakto on the floor, thinking about its powers, the ones she hadn't discovered yet. Toshiro cuts into her thoughts,

"And these things you fought in the sky that could change form, did not appear until after you became involved with this girl?"

"Hold on!" Rukia protested, "They have nothing to do with Katsumi. Captain Kurosuchti personally told me that they have been a high level threat to the World of the Living as well as Soul Society for an extended period of time now."

Toshiro narrows his eyes, "And did captain Kurosuchti tell you that it wasn't until today, the day after Katsumi shows up, that the shifter population moved here into Karakura town? "

No one can deny that is suspicious. Everyone is silent. Orihime speaks up in her fake cheerful voice,

"Well whatever the reason the shifters are here now, with four captains and a wonderful vice captain, we can defeat them easily!"

Urahara looks down solemnly, "I wouldn't be so sure."

"Whaaaa?!" Matsumoto stands up angrily from the table. "Do you doubt our abilities?!" She says in her pouting voice.

Urahara smiles nervously waving his hands saying, "Oh, no no no, not at all!"

Matsumoto's complaining rant starts and Ichigo's and Renji's argument starts up again as well. Toshiro starts shaking from frustration.

"SHUT UP!" Everyone looks up at him. "We're not here to fight among ourselves, we need to strategize against our enemy." He looks at Katsumi. "And if you can really do what you say you can..."

Ichigo interrupts, "She can, we've already fought."

Toshiro glares at him for interrupting and continues, "We might have a very good chance. But you apparently lack any sort of physical strength."

Katsumi was about to protest but he ignores her.

"Hisagi and Renji will work with you." Toshiro commands.

"What?!" Renji and Hisagi shouted together. Toshiro ignored their "immaturness" and says, "If Katsumi is really what these shifters want, then she has to learn to defend herself. I'd rather use what little time we have to train her than risk my life during battle to save her."

Katsumi is getting angrier as he continues,

"And I will help train your shikai, and captain Kuchiki will help your bankai. That is if you are even capable of achieving it. And naturally Ichigo will get your hollow side under control for you."

Katsumi can't stand it any longer. She jumps up to her feet and flashsteps across the table to where Toshiro is standing and lowers herself so she is right in his face and says,

"I really don't like you. You've underestimated me in every way. If I have to earn your respect through a battle, fine, I'm ready."

Toshiro, unblinking stares coldly back at her as he says, "Your eagerness to challenge me proves your stupidity. But I don't like you either, so if you must battle, I'll be glad to."

Katsumi smirks, "Bring it."

"Wait!" Urahara shouts before they whip out their zanpaktos. "Not in the dining room! Do you know how much this table cost me?!"

Byakuya looks at it disdainfully, "Looks cheap to me."

Katsumi and Toshiro are still glaring darts at each other.

*Underground training arena*

Katsumi crashes into the ground, a cloud of dirt shoots into the air. Toshiro frowns.

"Have you had enough yet?"

She emerges from the cloud of dust, bleeding, panting, but smiling.

"I guess you're right about my physical strength, I could get a little stronger." She wipes her bleeding lip with her sleeve, "but you're wrong about my shikai."

Toshiro narrows his eyes.

"I can even use my shikai to beat your bankai." She tries to provoke him. He doesn't let it get to him. "I guess you're too chicken to use it." She eggs him on.

"At least I have a bankai." He snaps at her.

"Let's see it."

Katsumi and Toshiro continue taunting and provoking each other, clashing swords and fighting all the while.

"I wonder why Hitsugaya taicho is so angry and, well, childish today?" Orihime asks the other spectators. Matsumoto laughs guiltily.

"Haha...uh he has a 10 ft. tall stack of paperwork on his desk and coming here, well he can't work on them. I always tell him, 'taicho, stop putting all this paperwork off, you'll be much less irritated and more enjoyable!' but he never listens to me."

"Oh, I see." Orihime says while Renji and Ichigo are laughing at her. Matsumoto twitches angrily,

"Shut up! Idiots." She turns around and stares them down. Their faces go blank, but they can't help but start smiling again and she punches their faces and yells at them.

"Amateurs." Byakuya mutters. Hisagi has a "you've got to be kidding me" look on his face.

*cuts back to the Toshiro and Katsumi's fight*

"All right, you asked for it!" Toshiro, panting, holds his zanpakto directly in front of him and shouts, "Bankai!"

Everyone watching goes silent as Toshiro releases his bankai.

"You can do it taicho!" Matsumoto cheers. Internally, she's growing concerned. Thinking to herself, "That girl has done nothing but attack with her zanpakto and a getsuga tensho that looks suspiciously similar to Ichigo's. I can't believe that is enough to push taicho to banaki. Who is she?" Matsumoto continues to watch, frowning.

Katsumi smirks, "Finally, time to show you..." She brandishes her zanpakto and point it front of her "...what I can do."

Toshiro launches attack after attack at her, but she avoids them all easily. Then,

"Shine, Hikari!"

Toshiro's eyes widen as he sees the light coming from her zanpakto. Then, wham! He is hit with the light and he's completely blinded. The pain in his eyes sends him crashing to the ground, completely disoriented. But he quickly gets back up as the light fades.

"I have to defeat her through physical strength." He thought. His eyes still fazed by the light, he uses his spiritual instincts to find Katsumi. Their zanpaktos clash. "This is it!" He thought triumphantly. He pushes hard against her sword expected to fling her back, but it was no use. He looks up, and sees a hollow mask, grinning maniacally down at him.

To be continued...


End file.
